Opinion Today: TikTok, love it or hate it? Maybe both.

A conversation captures a lot of complicated feelings about our tech.

nytimes.com February 25, 2025 By Katherine Miller Staff writer and editor, Opinion Earlier this month, for Opinion's latest focus group, the pollster Margie Omero and I spent an hour and a half listening to 12 people get really deep and thoughtful about TikTok. More than 100 million Americans use the app, but a lot of what the participants discussed is their ambivalent relationships to social media and the flow of information more generally — a relatable tension in American life right now. The people who participated in our focus group live in different regions of the country and come from different backgrounds and generations, but they described experiences that might be familiar to you. They love TikTok for the range of perspectives, practical information or entertainment they find there. At the same time, they described social media as "addicting," and talked about how they weren't sure they were able to trust what they learned there. Many participants also had a visibly negative reaction to the idea of their own kids being on social media. These are issues a lot of us are dealing with. The reality is that getting news and information (or killing time) often happens through an iPhone screen, on Instagram, TikTok and in group chats. A lot of people get daily news, entertainment, joy and a sense of familiar connection from social media (whether it's on TikTok or another platform), and would feel a real sense of displacement and loss if the apps disappeared (like TikTok, potentially) or underwent major changes (like Twitter). At the same time, it's an uneasy exercise to imagine the next generation having the same experience we are right now. Reading the focus group discussion, you get a sense of a crucial question: Are these just growing pains as we get used to social media, or is it all unsustainable and things are going to have to change? 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